Project start: 01.09.2025
Project end: 31.08.2028
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

The aim of the iSoBeD project is to develop new, digital and AI-supported approaches for sustainable, efficient and practical irrigation solutions in vegetables and viticulture. In view of rising water consumption and increasing climatic challenges, digital technologies are to be used to define the water requirements of crops on a site-specific basis and to precisely control irrigation. The project focuses on the following areas: (i) Development of digital tools to model and optimize irrigation requirements in vegetable crops and viticulture on a site-specific basis. By integrating networked sensors, digital reconstructions of crop parameters or data-driven and AI models, respectively, these solutions should enable a more precise determination of needs and thus save water resources. (ii) Optimization and automation of irrigation methods for vegetable cultivation to enable variable rate control. Implementation using standardized protocols is supposed to simplify application accuracy and irrigation management across the process chain. (iii) Implementation of automated, plot- and site-specific irrigation for viticulture, primarily to ensure the long-term productivity and preservation of steep slopes characterizing entire landscapes. The developed methods are validated in field trials over several years and their suitability for practical application is tested on cooperating farms. In addition, the project promotes the strong involvement of practitioners and the transfer of knowledge to vegetable and wine farms through intensive dissemination, networking and transfer activities. This will lay the foundations for sustainable, digitally supported cultivation of specialty crops.

Project start: 28.02.2020
Project end: 31.08.2025
Sponsor: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture